Portrait photo practice made easy

Fountain with the alumni center in the background

This past Monday I got the opportunity to try out my portrait photography skills, which until then had not existed. I had no idea what I was doing so just like anything else I do, I googled it. After spending quite some time on how-to sites and forums, I felt I had a pretty good grasp of the proper lighting and settings to take some decent photos in. I wanted to take the pictures after 5:30pm because the sunset lighting provided a softer and more colorful image than mid-day sun. Due to some scheduling issues however we met at 4:30 and started to take some pictures around a fountain on campus.

The beautiful ladies

I'd like to give the majority of the credit for the photos to the beautiful ladies who volunteered their time to me, they were terrific sports and we egger to get some good shots. With my aperture set high at 20, shutter speed 1/60s and ISO set on 400, I shot the photo seen to the left. I would also like to give credit to Picasa, which helped me nearly eliminate the stitches in the eyebrow of the girl on the right along with some other touch-ups here and there, I did not however alter the color of the photos or apply a theme.


Every day I find myself scoping out every opportunity for a picture on my way to class, it seems so easy to find places to take some awesome photos but a little harder to convince someone to be photographed in them. Hopefully after a few more experiments I will have a more friends interested in getting their picture taken.

Taking these pictures was incredibly fun and a huge learning experience, I look forward to taking pictures of whomever volunteers next, all pictures are free at the moment as I value the experience over the money and it also doesn't pressure me to have to get that perfect shot (although I'm looking for it anyways).